Theralase Updates Cancer Therapy Breakthrough

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Published: Oct 9, 2013 7:06 a.m. ET

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Oct 09, 2013 (ACCESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- Toronto, ON, (Accesswire - October 9, 2013) - On March 28, 2012, Theralase Technologies Inc. (TLT) first announced that its anti-cancer technology was found to completely destroy highly aggressive, subcutaneous (under the skin) colon cancer tumours in a mouse model. At that point in time, 4 weeks post treatment, the mice continued to be cancer free.

Theralase is pleased to announce that the mice have remained cancer free for a remarkable 20 months and counting after receiving only 1 Theralase cancer treatment.

"All animals which showed an initial response have remained cancer free for the entire time, healed without any scarring and have developed normally after only a single PDC treatment. This is an extremely good indication of the efficacy of the Theralase technology and not often observed at this early stage in new drug development", stated Dr. Lothar Lilge, a Senior Scientist at the Ontario Cancer Institute, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network and Professor of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto, who was in charge of the animal experiments.

"This therapy has worked amazingly well in these animal models and we were all extremely surprised and delighted that the treatment conferred such a strong anti-cancer effect and overall survival benefit to the treated animals. We are in communication with Princess Margaret Cancer Centre's oncologists to determine the parameters required to start the preparation of a human clinical trial as soon as possible to see if this groundbreaking work can be successfully translated to human cancer patients, possibly even as a first line treatment of bladder cancer" stated Dr. Arkady Mandel, Chief Scientific Officer of Theralase Inc."

Dr. Mandel went on to say that, "In cancer treatment, destroying the tumour is half the battle, while the other more important half is preventing the cancer from recurring, while preserving normal organ function. These findings are vitally important because they clearly demonstrate that our leading drug candidate, in combination with a specific dose of light, can destroy the cancer in the first instance, but more importantly prevent the cancer from recurring for a significant time period."

Roger Dumoulin-White, President and CEO of Theralase Inc. stated, "The achievement of this important milestone signifies that Theralase's leading cancer therapy is very effective in the destruction of cancer in a live animal model, but more importantly can prevent the cancer from recurring for years after treatment. The key to this research is that our lead cancer is bladder cancer, a cancer which has historically demonstrated a recurrence rate of 80%. If the Theralase cancer therapy is able to reproduce these results in humans, and there is no reason to believe it will not, then I believe we have an extremely important discovery in the fight against cancer. As a final note on the potency of these new class of drugs, in our cell based experiments, the lead Theralase PDC was found to be 668,000 times more effective than ALA and 198 times more effective than PHOTOFRIN(R), two currently approved FDA photoactive drugs."

About Theralase Technologies Inc.:

Theralase Technologies Inc., founded in 1995, designs, develops, manufactures and markets patented, superpulsed laser technology utilized in both healing and destroying tissue. The healing technology is safe and effective in the treatment of pain, inflammation and the acceleration of tissue healing for a wide range of nerve, muscle and joint conditions. The destructive technology enlists patented Photo Dynamic Compounds (PDCs), which when light activated, have the ability to specifically target and effectively destroy cancer, bacteria and viruses.

This press release contains forward-looking statements which reflect the Company's current expectations regarding future events. The forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those projected herein. The Company disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchanges) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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